The Anniversary Ball
by MamaRaya
Summary: Hogwarts hosts a ball every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and Hermione always attends. Fluff but not too mushy.
1. Chapter 1

**ONE YEAR AFTER THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS- 1999**

"I don't know Ginny. It's only been a year. Doesn't it feel…soon…to be celebrating something that was so awful?" Hermione was trying very hard to sit still in rather uncomfortable dress robes while Fleur applied powders and creams to her face.

"You know, Harry said the same thing this morning." Ginny began, then blushed when she realized the connotations thereof. Hermione raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her friend, receiving a small smack from Fleur for moving. "But I think you're both wrong." Ginny was looking in the only mirror in the small Burrow bedroom that was still hers and appeared as though it hadn't been slept in for weeks. "Think about Fred. And Tonks. Not Lupin, maybe, but Sirius! Dumbledore! And Colin and Lavender! Wouldn't they have all been eager for a party?" Hermione frowned at this very good point, and couldn't help thinking that maybe the wrong people had…no.

"Okay. For them."

"Magnifique! You are done." Fleur kissed Hermione's hair, careful not to touch her finished makeup or hair. Hermione grimaced and Fleur rolled her eyes. "Ma chére, I know you are a…natural girl. I did not do much." Hermione and Ginny giggled.

Fleur moved out of the way so that Hermione could access the mirror.

Ginny gasped. "Oh Hermione…you look gorgeous. Ron's going to lose it."

Hermione nervously approached her own reflection. "Oh Wow. It's definitely not too much, it's perfect. Oh Fleur. Thank you. I swear I've never looked like this." She laughed. "The boys aren't going to recognize me."

All three women squished into the small space in front of the mirror so they could check their reflections before going downstairs and floo-ing to Hogwarts. They weren't supposed to be mourning anything, but Hermione was privately glad she had bought simple black dress robes and kept her hair tamed and done up in an easy bun, the most noticeable change her dark rose lipstick. Ginny had gone for sweet cream A-line robes that accented her waist and her not insignificant muscles from Quidditch training. Fleur's skin-tight pale blue set of robes made her silvery-blonde hair glow. She hadn't cut her hair during the war, too busy carrying the labor of a safehouse and fighting on missions as well, so it flowed, straight and smooth, well past her waist.

Three men, and a few extra Weasleys, gaped as the women climbed down the dangerous Burrow stairs.

"Blimey…" someone said.

Hermione was embraced by appreciative eyes from Ron, before she went over to stand next to him and he awkwardly reached over to tuck a stray curl behind her ear and run his hand down her jawline. Ginny had to walk up to Harry and physically shut his open mouth before kissing his cheek and grinning at him. Bill and Fleur hugged and whispered something to each other.

George walked by the sight, casually throwing some kind of snack into his mouth and remarking, "Well at least we know if Fred was alive, seeing you all like that might have killed him!"

"George!" Molly screamed as she rushed out of her own room, her maternal need to scold surpassing her need to primp.

But as Molly moved to run after George and smack him with anything handy, all faces turned to her, then quickly to Arthur, who had dropped a glass in the kitchen as she had gone running past. Approximately four voices said "Mum…" and a fifth, from the kitchen, "Molly…" Molly stopped, surrounded by the stunned faces, her hands anxiously smoothing down her silk, well-fitted burgundy dress robes. She wore her hair in big, loose, movie-star curls, a shining pink lipstick, and a natural blush recognizable to all who knew the Weasleys.

Then Hermione witnessed maybe her favorite moment in the rough year that had followed the war. Arthur Weasley ran to his wife and held her face, taking her in, then kissed her with as much passion and love as Hermione had ever even dreamed of. George carefully poked his head back into the crowded hall "And that, ladies and gents, is why they have a thousand children." Both Molly and Arthur forgot to scold.

* * *

"You would've thought they would've taken the reconstruction as an opportunity to improve things around here, eh?" George joked as he brushed the ash off of his arms.

"Oh Arthur, when was the last time we were in the dorms?" Molly looked almost 17 again, leaning on Arthur, who smiled and leaned in and whispered something that made her giggle.

"Dad. Ew." Bill caught the whisper and grimaced as he and Fleur crawled out of the fireplace, quickly getting out of the way. "This is the common room?" Fleur's accent didn't hide the disparaging nature of the comment. "I agree with George. It could use some…sprucing up."

Ron and Hermione stepped out of the grate next, prompting Molly to begin counting. "Percy is helping set up, Charlie isn't coming, Fred…no we're missing someone aren't we?"

Ron coughed. "Never thought she'd forget her own daughter, did you?" he addressed the room.

George laughed. "Ooh that Potter is gonna…" his fake threat was drowned out by the couple tumbling out of the Gryffindor fireplace, looking just a little rumpled, Harry wearing a bit of Ginny's lipstick. Hermione rushed over to him to attempt to casually clean him up, but Ginny just smiled triumphantly.

"Oh, you're all just jealous." She proclaimed, her hands on her hips in an almost Molly-like fashion.

George played along, biting his lip thoughtfully. "Hmm...No I don't think I've ever wanted to shag Harry." He received a smack on the head from Bill. "Ow. Since when are you the one doling out punishments?!" Bill silently pointed to the stairs to the boys' rooms, which Arthur and Molly were trying to sneak up. "Ewww" chorused everyone but Fleur.

"I think it is very sweet. Only natural. You English are such prudes. Shall we?" She grabbed Bill's arm and lead them all out of the tower, at which point she seemed to get lost and allowed Bill to lead them all to the Great Hall.

They were late. As they pushed their way into the Hall, Headmistress McGonagall was in the middle of a speech. "On this day we remember those we lost and those whose lives have forever been changed by a war that threatened our very lives, and our own school. Let us begin with a moment of silence for those that cannot be here with us today." Hermione felt her hands claimed by Ron and by Harry. The three of them had always felt like one unit when it came to talking about the war. She kept her mind blank, thinking only of Harry and Ron and their hands and their love. "Thank you. Tonight we celebrate the victory of good over evil, and the restoration of Hogwarts. All Hogwarts alumni and all veterans of the Second Wizarding War have been invited to share this space with our current students, who may or may not know the sacrifice you made for them. May you all learn from each other and enjoy yourselves." With that she clapped, waved her wand, and nodded to the band to begin. The Weasleys rushed to find a table with a golden tablecloth where they could all fit. Hermione noticed the tables were all black, gold, silver, or copper. "What a subtle choice" she said to no one. She looked to Ron but saw that there was now food on the table he was not listening to her. She smiled to herself. This was home.

* * *

"Do you think it's horrible that we kicked them out of their own Common Room?"

Ron leaned back in the overstuffed arm chair he was lounging in, stretching his arms. "Course not, Hermione. It was ours first, wasn't it?"

"And to be fair" said Harry from the floor where he sat against the couch, Ginny laying between his legs, her head on his chest. "We missed a whole year of it." Ginny nodded and grunted her agreement.

"You know, that's true for me as well." George chimed in from the couch and Harry rubbed the scar on his hand absentmindedly. "Oy, Hermione, pass another one, will you love?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and reached over to levitate another butterbeer to him. "Why are you only polite when you're drunk?"

George shrugged. "Fred was the polite one." He opened the bottle and a heavy, sad silence collapsed onto the group.

Ron's loud laughter cut through. "He was worse!" Everyone laughed with relief and Hermione hiccuped as she reached down, struggling to unstrap her uncomfortable shoes.

From the floor, Ginny laughed at her friend. "Hermione! You'll give us girls a bad name, you can't hold your liquor!"

Hermione leaned forward from her seat on the other chair. "You can't talk, your eyes are closed!" Everyone but Ginny laughed, but Harry leaned forward into Ginny's hair and whispered to her; she cuddled deeper into his arms and closed her eyes again in response.

"Hey Harry"

Harry's voice was quiet when replying to Ron's inebriated yelling. "Yes, Ron?"

"How come we never carved our names into our beds or anything? You know, make our mark on the place?"

"We destroyed nearly half the castle and it took half a year to put it back together Ron, how much of a mark did you want to make?"

Ron grumbled. "Idunno. Something for the ages though mate. Something little punks will see when we're long forgotten."

"You're going to be an answer on History of Magic tests for centuries Ron, what more do you need?" Hermione argued.

"No one pays attention in that class!"

"I did! And it saved all our arses, didn't it?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

From across the room he gave her the apologetic, boyish, trouble-making smile that made her forget how to argue, sometimes how to speak. "Yes, Hermione." She blushed and bit her lip. He hardened his look, his eyes focusing on only her. She found it harder to breathe and broke the eye contact, reaching for her drink.

"We're off then." Harry and Ginny had stood, Ginny leaning her head on Harry's shoulder and holding her shoes in her hand.

George stood, then caught his balance. "I'll come back with you, make sure mum and dad aren't in a compromising position on the couch or anything." He winked at the departing couple, making Ron and Ginny groaned.

Ron and Hermione only smiled at them, glancing at each other briefly to confirm their own plans. "I think we'll have another drink" Hermione tried to sound casual, as if it made perfect sense for two of the group to stay back.

"Gross" George added before he jumped into the suddenly green flames.

Ron felt badly for the early-rising prefect who found two adults cuddled tightly around each other on the couch the next day.

* * *

 **TWO YEARS LATER-2000**

"You're kidding!" Hermione gasped.

"Nope, just as she was getting ready. Rather pissed she didn't get to wear the new dress robes I think." Ginny laughed.

"Wow! Molly must be losing her mind."

"I don't think she's allowed anyone else into the room. Her first grandkid? She's going to be IMPOSSIBLE."

"I don't even know what's done in the wizarding world…" Hermione surprised herself, realizing she hadn't thought of this before. She breathed a silent relief that she hadn't had any scares herself which may have made this brief thought into a very real panic.

Ginny shrugged. "Not much, a few potions, a lot of breathing. Good news is Mum really knows what she's doing." They both laughed.

"What are you two talking about?" Harry and Ron, holding four bottles of Butterbeer, approached them.

"Fleur!" Ginny answered, kissing Harry's cheek as a thank you.

Ron sipped his drink. "Sometimes I really can't believe Bill just went on and got married and had a kid." He shrugged. "Suppose that's what we'll all do eventually though, isn't it?" He reached out to hold Hermione's hand, the heavy meaning of the gesture lost on him. Harry grinned at Ginny, who matched him with a giggle and a flirtatious look.

Hermione panicked. She suddenly couldn't breathe. She could feel her cheeks turning red, in a way that the Weasleys were familiar with but was not common on her skin tone. She thought fast, leaning over to Ron and kissing him on the cheek. "I'm going to go get some air…um. I just want to see um…the grounds." Ron looked at her confusedly but she tried her best to assure him with her eyes that she was fine. He nodded and she tried not to run out of the hall.

When she reached the front steps and the warm summer night air, she fought to catch her breath but couldn't. She leaned over, her hands on her knees, her head dropped. _Okay I'm going to die. The war didn't kill me and this will. Okay breathe right that's what you're supposed to do just breathe okay why can't I breathe oh no what do I do I'm going to die right here and they're going to find me ouch my chest ow ow oh no it's a heart attack, do wizards even know how to deal with heart attacks ow._ She felt a warm hand on her back. "Short breaths, Granger. In and out, in and out, in and out. Easy. You're going to be alright. You're way too obnoxious to die. Breathe." Her breath started to come easier, her heart slowing down, not pinching quite so much. Then she fully realized who was rubbing her back and stood up, quickly backing away. Malfoy laughed. "See? Just needed to be scared a bit."

"Malfoy-what-are-you-doing-here?" she managed to gasp out.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused by her distress. "What, I don't count as alumni or a veteran?"

Hermione shook her head, "No I mean…well I didn't think you'd want to be around…?"

"Ah yes, the victorious. The Gryffindors." She rolled her eyes. "Oh Granger, isn't one of your side's…things supposed to be forgiveness and all that?"

"Harry already forgave you Malfoy. That's why you aren't in Azkaban right now."

Malfoy nodded. "Perfect Potter saves literally everyone even his bully, yes. Wasn't that the title of the Daily Prophet?"

"Don't be stupid." Malfoy shrugged. Hermione had finally caught her breath. "They would never call Harry 'perfect.'"

Malfoy laughed once. "Granger, that was actually funny."

"Well. Yes."

"Well done."

"You never answered my question Malfoy, why are you here?"

Malfoy seemed to be musing philosophically. "Mm. I've decided to re-enter the wizarding world."

"What, got tired of hiding in your Manor with Mummy and Daddy?" Hermione nearly spit the words.

He didn't acknowledge the anger. "Yes, in fact. They're not quite ready to understand that the world is a bit more complex than blood or status, so they've hidden themselves in. I've…got a life to live I suppose."

Hermione was genuinely surprised, but skeptical. "And you've started here? On the celebration of the war you were on the wrong side of?"

His eyes flashed briefly with anger, but it didn't show on his face or in his words. "I was rather side-less in the end there, wasn't I?"

"A true Slytherin."

"Indeed." He grinned.

She stepped towards him again, her hand on her wand in the pocket of her robes. "Why tonight, Malfoy?"

He stepped towards her, her eyes betraying a second of fear in response. "Why not, Granger?" They stared wordlessly for a full minute before he backed off. "McGonagall's orders, actually."

Her eyebrows came together in confusion. "What?"

He stepped further away from her and looked out towards the grounds. "I'm to start building bridges with the Hogwarts community, as to be more accepted into it, you see." She still looked confused. "Oh come now Granger you're supposed to be the brilliant one."

Her jaw dropped. "Potions."

Malfoy's smile was broad. "Slughorn recommended me, believe it or not."

She frowned. "He didn't even like you."

"No, no Granger, he didn't like my _side._ Pure Slytherin, that one. Smart man."

"So Professor McGonagall is going to let you teach?"

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "She isn't going to _let_ me do anything. I'll apprentice for a year and then yes, take over." He shrugged again. "I suppose she's doing a better job in selecting and preparing qualified teachers than…anyone else… ever did."

Hermione snorted. "We'll see about that." Flatly, without any humor or kindness, she said, "Welcome to the Hogwarts community." Malfoy watched her walk back inside, her silver-gray robes making her dark skin glow.

"Hey, you okay?" Ron set down his drink and reached out his hand to Hermione as she returned to the table.

Hermione nodded and smiled, accepting his hand. She could feel that Gryffindor buzz that sometimes came on when she was about to interrupt a professor, march into a duel, or demand to see someone in a hospital bed she was being barred from. It felt good, her blood pumping harder than it had in, well, about two years. "Ron, can we talk?"

His smile killed her a little. "Can we dance and talk?" She smiled in answer and let him lead her to the floor. His arms wrapped around her comfortingly. Their bodies knew each other so well, from years of friendship and then two more years of love and partnership. They felt like one unit. As he supported her waist, she wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up at him. "What is it love?"

She smiled and looked down at her shoes, trying to remind herself what she had wanted to say. "I don't want to scare you…" His eyes encouraged her, giving her comfort. "But I need to say something."

"Okay..."

"You know what you were saying, about Bill and Fleur and how someday we'll all be like them?"

Ron tilted his head in confusion. He was slightly less sensitive than he had been as teenagers but…only slightly. "I didn't mean today, Hermione."

"Oh I know!" He relaxed. "I know. And I'm not trying to leave you" His eyes widened, she pet the back of his neck for comfort. "I love you more than anything Ron."

"I love you too Hermione!" He seemed eager to end the entire conversation there.

"Ron." She bit her lip and looked down once more. She couldn't look at him and say this. "What you were talking about. I don't want that. I will be with you as long as you want me but I don't want to get married. I don't want kids. I just…I don't."

Ron breathed out a huge sigh of relief, surprising her. "You scared me Hermione! I know you don't want to get married right now! Neither do I! And kids…you'll change your mind. I know you will, plenty of people say that. Bill and Fleur both said that!"

Hermione resisted the tremendous urge to step away, slap Ron, and yell. "No, Ron. I won't. I won't change my mind. I don't want those things. I love you but I know myself and I won't be happy being a mum. I'm not saying it's less than anything, it's totally amazing, it's just…not for me. It's like... not liking flying! I'm not saying it's bad, I just…don't want to." Ron's silence both scared her and encouraged her. "Look, I know you do want those things Ron. I know they're important to you and I just, I don't want to lead you on and ten years down the road you're angry all the time because I didn't give you what you need." She let the silence sit for longer than she was comfortable with, waiting for him to fight or argue or, hell, she'd even take a crying Ron at this point. "So you just…you just let me know. Okay?"

Ron's mouth was tight, but not angry. Resigned, maybe. Hermione was alarmed that she didn't know this expression of his. "Okay." Then, "Come here." He pulled her close and kissed her with as much _this is who we are and we are us and that's all we need_ as he could. They danced like this for what seemed like hours, until Harry and Ginny came to pull them away.

"Want to meet your nephew?"

* * *

Eek! I haven't published in years, but I needed a little fluff in my life so I thought I'd share. I've written out ten years, and I'll publish two at a time. Reviews will really make me happy.


	2. Chapter 2

**THREE YEARS LATER-2001**

 _This is going to be awful_ , Hermione thought as she fidgeted at her dress robes in the mirror propped up against a blank, white wall. She had tried to find the little makeup that she owned, but it was in one of the many boxes scattered around the flat and there was no way was she going to go digging through boxes right now. It was a miracle she had remembered about the damn ball (yesterday) and gone to get new robes (literally this morning). This was the problem with seeing the same people, and really most of the Wizarding World that she interacted with, at the same event annually. You couldn't get away with re-wearing robes. And this year she needed to Show Up. Not for revenge or anything, she reminded herself, of course not. But she needed to show that she was just as confident and just as interesting and just fine thank you very much for asking. So she had gone with a confident color for assistance. The new robes were a deep scarlet and her lips were a new coral-red she had bought when she had realized she didn't own any lipstick, and she had indulgently charmed her tawny skin to shimmer ever so slightly in the candlelight. She still looked modest and appropriate, and anyone could write the whole thing off as a bit of Gryffindor pride. But no matter how well she planned or how good she looked, she still knew tonight would be something to survive more than the party it had felt like in previous years. With a deep breath, looking around at her new, empty flat, she picked up a pinch of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace.

* * *

"Hermione!" She searched for the familiar voice that had called her over as soon as she had entered the Hall.

"Parvati." She walked smoothly over to her old roommate and hugged her lightly. "You look beautiful. How are you?"

Parvati smiled widely, putting a comforting hand on Hermione's arm. "I'm doing so well dear, but how are _you_?" The pity was dripping from her words.

Hermione was prepared for this. She rolled her shoulders back, her wild hair falling behind her shoulders. "Oh, I'm doing quite well. Just got back from Spain, actually!"

Parvati raised an eyebrow but her smile didn't falter. "Of course. Look at you, having fun while the rest of us settle down and get so boring!" Her smile was somehow both sweet and poisonous. A beautiful woman came up behind her and put her hand on Parvati's waist. "Babe, we should get back to our table." Parvati wrapped her arm around the woman's waist, bringing her face to face with Hermione. "Hermione, have you met my partner, Sara?"

The woman reached out to shake Hermione's hand. "So nice to meet you. This is the wildest party." Hermione looked around at the very tame tables of wizards and witches. Even the students were behaving so early in the night. "Pavi warned me but I still couldn't believe it when my glass just refilled all by itself!"

Parvati smiled and touched the muggle's cheek. "You're so cute." The Gryffindor hugged Hermione with a real kindness that took her by surprise, then held her shoulders. "You look wonderful. I won't say I'm not a bit jealous of your life right now. Look me up if you're ever in Brighton, we'd love to have you for dinner."

Hermione realized her entire body was tense and tried to relax with a deep breath as the women walked away. Parvati was one of the worst gossips she knew and she had been mostly fine. Maybe that would be the worst of it.

"That makes SO. MUCH. SENSE." The voice at her side used to belong to her. Preparing herself, she turned and looked up at Ron. He shrugged in response. "Figured I'd break the ice." His smile was weirdly normal considering they hadn't spoken in three months. "Come on, we're sitting in the back." He tilted his head in the direction of the Weasley's table.

"No, Ron that's okay" she began to protest half-heartedly, "I don't want to, you know, make anyone uncomfortable."

"Nonsense." He grabbed her hand, gently pulling her with him. "You are never not going to be an honorary Weasley, Hermione." He reassured her as he led her. "You can't shake us, you know that." They approached the table. "Look who I found! Oh! And Parvati Patil is totally GAY!" He stage-whispered the last few words.

Hermione couldn't help but grin. Perhaps nobody changed in only a few months, but Ron was exactly the same as he had been the morning he had ended things between them. Ginny was already running up to hug her and didn't hide her excitement. "You look A-BLOODY-MAZING. Also, duh! She slept in Lavender's bed half the time, and anybody who played Truth or Dare with them knew they BOTH used tongue!" Harry and Ron turned around lightning-fast to stare at Ginny, who threw her head back laughing. Hermione giggled, shaking her head at her friends.

She sat at the seat saved for her between Harry and George and they watched as the Headmistress gave her speech, commanded a moment of silence, and launched the feast. As they began to eat, Harry leaned forward as though to whisper to the entire table. "Does anybody else completely hate the moment of silence?" They all laughed and nodded. "Okay good, it's not just me."

"I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Potter." Harry's eyes went wide as saucers as everyone else looked above his head to see Professor McGonagall looking down at him. She seemed to be attempting anger and only accomplishing a sort of strained glee. "I understand that you will want to eat your dinner, however, I would like a moment of your and Ms. Granger's time?" The two of them looked up at their former professor, feeling flashbacks and a bit of panic as they nodded and began to get up from their chairs. Ron broke the silence.

"Hey wait a minute, doesn't that usually include me?"

"Not in this case Mr. Weasley, as they are not, in fact, in trouble."

"Oh, no fun then." The rest of the table laughed.

McGonagall lead them just outside the hall. "I am sorry to interrupt your celebrations."

Harry went right into what Hermione and Ron called War Hero Mode. "What is it, Professor?"

"Nothing is the matter, . I have two professors wishing to leave after next year, and I wanted to offer apprenticeships to the two of you." Hermione's jaw dropped. Harry seemed frozen. "Ms. Granger, I am sure you have many offers and I understand that you have been working for the Ministry and I'm sure are going to do great things, but you have always been talented at Transfiguration, and though Professor Molina has done a very fine job, you are one of the few others I would trust to teach my own subject, if you have any interest in teaching. I also need a new Head of Gryffindor, and she must have both a stern respect for the rules and a forgiving spirit, as we are not exactly known to be…rule-followers, now are we?" Hermione was shocked, glued into her place by the offer and the compliments.

McGonagall then faced Harry, her face softening a little at the boy for whom she had held a soft spot. "Mr. Potter, I understand that you are an Auror and are doing well for yourself, but I thought if you were interested in taking a break from fighting all the time, I do think you would be a very natural Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. And since there is no longer a curse on the position, it could be yours as long as you wish." She looked at her former pupils, whom she had apparently stunned and she smiled. "You are both to think it over and please get back to me in a week." They didn't move. "Go back to the party now." She had to command and gesture to the door before they did so. Professor McGonagall stayed in the hall and had a good laugh before re-joining the celebrations.

Harry and Hermione stopped before reaching the table where their family sat. They stared at each other. "I guess…" Hermione began uselessly.

"I mean I have to talk to Ginny but…"

"I honestly never thought…" Hermione continued, thinking aloud.

"I'm actually quite tired of fighting really when I think…"

"But what about S.P.E.W…"

"We could start with dark creatures…as early as first year…"

"Head of Gryffindor would be such a challenge…"

They turned to each other again. "Well?" Harry asked tentatively.

"I think we should do it." Hermione surprised herself with her the decisiveness in her tone. "I mean, obviously you have to talk to Ginny but-"

"She'll love it. She's so tired of me being on missions."

"You'd be such a great teacher Harry. I've always known it."

"What about you? You'll be brilliant. And you're not doing enough at the Ministry you've told me yourself."

"You know Malfoy will be Potions Master…"

Harry brushed this off. "Couldn't possibly be worse than Snape."

Then they both grinned widely at each other.

* * *

When they returned to their table they were greeted with a new face, a beaming Neville.

"Harry! Hermione!"

"Neville!" Hermione ran up to greet him, hugging him tightly. "We missed you!"

Harry gestured to the open seat next to Ginny at the table. "Good to see you mate, where've you been?"

Ginny put her hand comfortably on her friend's when he sat down. "I was traveling for Professor Sprout. She's taken me in as an apprentice and we needed a whole stock of things, for the greenhouse and the potions cabinet." Hermione glanced at Harry and they shared a secret smile.

"So you basically got to travel the world for a year?!" Ginny's face betrayed her envy and Neville nodded at her, his expression completely ignorant of any jealousy directed at him.

"Happy to be back though, honestly."

Hermione nodded knowingly. "And why is that Neville?" Her smile at him was reminiscent of Molly Weasley. Neville blushed bright red and looked down at the table in response. "Couldn't have anything to do with being close to the Leaky Cauldron, could it?"

His head jerked up and he seemed to forget there were other people at the table. "How do you know?!"

Hermione smiled kindly at him and reached for her drink. "Saw you there last week." Ginny gave Hermione a look out of the side of her eye that seemed to say _what were you doing at a bar alone?_

Always the slowest to put two and two together, Ron finally exclaimed, "Oy! Hannah Abbott!" He slapped Neville's arm. "Well done, mate!"

Neville smiled shyly before gathering his confidence by taking a drink of the firewhiskey Harry placed in front of him. "You'll all be invited of course. We're figuring the spring would be a nice time. She likes the wildflowers here."

Ginny's eyes widened. "You mean…?!" Neville smiled and nodded, turning to her seriously. "Meant to ask, Gin. Be my best man?" Ginny squealed and threw her arms around his neck.

"Not very best man-like, is she?" Ron pointed out. Ginny continued to squeeze him and squeak what might have been excited words or really just sounds until Neville coughed out that he couldn't quite breathe.

"Blimey" Harry seemed to have paled a little.

"You know, I think that makes you the first of us, Neville." Hermione didn't like that this unsettled her a little as she said it, but Neville's grin just grew wider. "I'm so happy for you."

"Well, I suppose we have even more cause to celebrate." Harry grinned at Hermione as he raised his glass. "To…what's next?" The table of Gryffindors nodded emphatically and clinked glasses.

* * *

 **FOUR YEARS LATER-2002**

"Oh Harry, it's gorgeous."

"You don't think it's too soon?"

"Merlin Harry, it's only been what? Six years? You resisted the post-war rush anyway. Here zip me up, I can't get the last bit."

But Harry had grimaced and sat down, terrified, on her bed. Hermione set her hand on his shoulder. "She's been in love with you for over a decade, she wants to have your babies, you live together, and Molly's been asking about this for a year now. It's about time you caught up."

He breathed out, hard. "Right. Thanks H."

"When are you asking her then?" Hermione started fidgeting with Harry's bowtie and dress robes, finally resorting to her wand to iron out the wrinkles he'd made by pacing around her professor's flat.

Harry bit his lower lip. "Tonight. I think. If I can manage. I want to do it here."

Hermione raised her eyebrow, then quickly resisted questioning his choice. He was nervous enough. "That's a lovely idea, Harry. Maybe you could take her out by the lake, where you two used to 'walk' in sixth year?" Harry just nodded like a man who belonged in a padded cell. "HARRY." Hermione pulled at his lapels. "FOCUS. If you're going to do it tonight, and you don't want the whole world watching, you need a plan." He barely looked up at her. "YOU ARE GOOD AT THIS YOU CAN PLAN THINGS." He nodded and she nodded with him, encouragingly. "GO PLAN." Harry stumbled as he left the room, muttering to himself.

* * *

Hermione sighed as she looked at the Great Hall, set up but empty. It was calming to know it would be full of happy wizards and witches of all ages, some wearier and more wounded than others, many healing and moving on to happy lives they hadn't been able to imagine only four years ago. The Hall really was beautifully done, with the same decorations every year for the Anniversary Ball. The floating candles still reminded her of her own sorting ceremony, and the many she had seen in years since, and the simple tables simply hinting at the Hogwarts houses with their neutral colors made her grateful for McGonagall's classic style. It was just enough to contrast how the people themselves changed over the years, while the castle, and the ball, remained ever-constant. Hermione was in the middle of her dreamy, nostalgic thoughts when she was interrupted by a smooth, coy voice.

"My, my Granger. Are we getting a show with dinner tonight then?"

Hermione whipped around and looked at him as though he had no right to be where he was, when he was probably supposed to be here early to greet guests and direct students. "What do you want Malfoy?"

"I only wondered if the low back look was in season or if you were making some sort of display out of desperation."

Hermione gasped. "My zipper. Stupid Harry!" She began moving one arm, then the other behind her head, attempting to get the last few inches she remembered had been missing, only to find the zipper had fallen even lower. Much too low, really.

Malfoy's warm hand on her back interrupted her struggle. "Stop. You'll never get it thrashing around like that." He moved her hair out of the way, brushing along the back of her neck and giving her goosebumps. Using one hand on her ribs to anchor the fabric, he zipped it up, setting her hair back in place. He then removed his hands and leaned down into her neck. She could feel his breath in the spot below her right ear. Exactly the place she placed the perfume she wore for special occasions. "Rather a shame really. I liked it better before."

Hermione whipped around and put her arms out onto his chest angrily. "Malfoy. Thank you for alerting me to that issue and for helping me. But do not cross lines that you will regret crossing. You hear me?"

He nodded, but smirked. "You going to hit me again Granger? Bit immature, don't you think?"

She had him up against a wall and he wasn't fighting her. She leaned in to him. Her heart was beating too fast for her liking. "You. Wish." His eyebrows rose high with surprise and maybe a little interest, she thought. She removed her hands, cooling down the situation immediately. "Malfoy, we are now co-workers. We can hate each other and make each other's lives more difficult, which worked out _so_ well last time, or we can work together. Either way, you keep your hands to yourself." With that, she walked purposefully into the Great Hall and searched for something that needed fixing or setting up.

* * *

"Hermione, why do you keep looking at Draco?"

Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been sipping a pumpkin juice, quietly watching Harry fidget nervously with his napkin, Ginny stare worryingly at him, and Ron dance with his date, someone from the Ministry whom she didn't know, when Luna had leaned in to whisper to her.

"Merlin, Luna you scared me! I wasn't…I wasn't looking at anyone. I was watching…" she gestured at her hapless friends.

Luna shrugged. "Okay. He does seem much nicer really, talked to me about the Asian Dragon Hair that Rolf and I found in Thailand." Hermione glanced at Luna's strange boyfriend, who was picking apart his food, identifying otherwise unremarkable ingredients as very important and fascinating. She didn't begin to understand either of them, really.

Hermione tried to shake off Luna's strangeness and leaned over to Harry. "Harry. Ron is dancing, everyone is busy. Go to the lake, take the ring, do it now." Harry turned to her with alarm, his eyes large saucers of fear. She nodded at him and slowly pronounced, "Now." Harry nodded back but did nothing. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Hey Gin," she loudly whispered to Ginny who sat on his other side, a single hand inefficiently blocking Harry from her words- "Harry looks kind of ill, don't you think? Maybe you should take him outside, get some air in him?"

Ginny looked almost relieved to be asked to take care of the man and it momentarily made Hermione wonder how in the world the two of them would survive. "Good idea." Harry let himself be pulled up by Ginny, who began rubbing his arms and whispering to him as she led him outside.

Hermione got up, excusing herself that she needed something to drink, never mind that her cup was full of pumpkin juice. She needed something stronger. Firewhiskey in hand, Hermione found a spot in the shadows to watch the dancers, leaning on one of the columns that separated the dance floor from the rest of the ball. It was late, and students younger than sixth year and most families or parents who had children at home had left, including Bill and Fleur. "The lonely and the learning" her mum had called the stragglers at any wedding they had attended. "Don't worry darling, we're not missing much by leaving now. It'll only be the lonely and the learning." Hermione had never asked what they were learning. She missed her parents tonight, which didn't happen too often. They hadn't been able to un-Obliviate them, she had done too good a job on the spell, apparently. But she had been able to use muggle explanations on them. "Amnesia" she had told them, and they'd seen enough movies to understand that premise. They loved her as much as they could, given that they didn't remember raising her. And she loved them as much as she could, given that they could never understand that she lived in a different world and had survived a war they would never learn about.

* * *

"Lonely, Granger?"

Hermione jumped at Malfoy's voice. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people Malfoy."

"I wasn't. You just weren't paying attention. It's really a miracle you lot won any battles."

Hermione rolled her neck from side to side and sipped her whiskey. "Really, Malfoy. It's late, do we have to fight right now?"

Malfoy shook his head rather seriously. "No desire to." He leaned against the other side of her column. "Only you took my favorite brooding spot."

Hermione chucked despite herself. "Yes, well I suppose you may not be the only one in need of a brood." There was no answer, so she continued. "You know, I usually like this ball. Tonight just feels off."

"Couldn't have anything to do with the Weasel's date, could it?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, no. I'm rather used to that. Doesn't bother me. Maybe it should" she began as she realized the alcohol was having its usual self-reflective effect- "but it doesn't."

"Anything to do with Potter's imminent engagement?"

Hermione whipped her head around the column to glare at him. "How do you know about THAT?"

Malfoy shrugged and gave a little laugh. "I was talking to Loony earlier, she guessed he was either going to propose or die from a stroke tonight. Apparently, she was right."

Hermione giggled. "He was rather sweaty." She sighed. "No, I'm happy for him. I don't…" She tried to think very seriously if she wanted to confide in Malfoy, but her tongue made the choice for her. "I don't mind being alone, really. I chose it, honestly. Could've had Ron and kids and a whole family ready-made." She looked over, catching Malfoy's mimicking of getting sick. "I like it-being alone-quite a lot, really. But…"

"Doesn't mean it doesn't suck occasionally, does it?"

Hermione's silence was answer enough. She took another sip, then set her drink down, smoothing over her robes and preparing herself to go wish Harry and Ginny the happiest of engagements.

* * *

Yay! We're getting more Draco! I do adore him. Also, if you would be interested in reading more queer Parvati (with Dramione as well, obviously) let me know! Thanks for the reviews, they make my whole day!


	3. Chapter 3

**FIVE YEARS LATER-2003**

"Hey Hermione, um, did you notice where I put my wand?"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Neville. You are a grown man, a husband, a war hero, and a Professor. HOW can you possibly lose your wand?!" Neville smiled shyly and shrugged and for a minute Hermione could see the eleven-year-old inside. "Accio Neville's wand!" It came flying out from under a tablecloth directly to Hermione, who re-directed it to Neville.

"Thanks! Hey, why are we the only ones setting up?" Neville asked while he checked the spells that levitated the candles around the tables and accidentally dropping one.

"Does it really surprise you that Harry and Malfoy both found ways to get out of extra work? Because it shouldn't. When is Hannah coming up from Hogsmeade?" When there was no answer she looked at Neville and found him balancing on a ladder barely holding on, with three candles in his mouth. She rolled her eyes and went over to help.

"She's coming up a bit late since Susan is with her."

"Susan Bones? The Hufflepuff from the D.A.? Her Aunt died early on…?"

Neville nodded. "She just moved back from the States and she's crashing with us until she finds her own place in Hogsmeade."

"I remember her. She was so sweet."

"Tough fighter too. She was training witches who couldn't afford school in America in basic defensive spells."

"Wow. Why did she move back?"

"Wanted to come home, settle down, all that."

"In Hogsmeade?"

Neville smiled. "That's Hannah's fault. Susan is kind of Hannah's Ron, or Harry, you know?"

Hermione matched his smile. She did know. Working with Harry every day had improved her life immeasurably.

"She wants to open her own school for Squibs. She's got a little sister who is one so she knows how to teach them enough to get by and transition into the muggle world."

"That's amazing….and she's single?" Hermione was growing an idea.

Neville climbed down from the ladder and bit his lip, frowning. "Um, Hermione, I…don't think you're her type. Sorry." Hermione laughed as they continued to set up the hall.

* * *

Hermione was determined to enjoy this year's ball more than last year's. Harry and Ginny were married, Ron wasn't bringing a date, Neville was working at Hogwarts, and Luna, who was perfectly lovely but was also very good at making perfectly lovely situations into awkward ones, was out of the country again. Ginny had gone with her to find their dress robes and had insisted Hermione buy robes that were a rich, royal blue and admittedly more revealing than she would usually choose. She may be going home alone and probably not dancing, but she would look amazing while doing it. She deserved it for surviving her first full year of teaching. She deserved it for surviving a war five years ago.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione rushed down the last staircase towards her friends.

"Hermione! Oh I'm so glad we went with that one. The fit is amazing on you."

Harry seemed to stutter a bit, looking at his friend. "Blimey Hermione. You don't usually look like…" he drifted off and Ginny laughed very hard. Hermione blushed and thanked him.

"Wait. Where's Ron?"

Ginny shrugged. "We lost him."

She jumped immediately into panic mode. "What? Where did you see him last? Does he have his wand?..."

She felt Ginny's hand on her arm. "Hermione. Not like that. Goodness. We just meant, he and George were right here and then they said they had to go do something and they left. It's him and George, and he's been working at the joke shop. We're merely hoping nothing is about to blow up!" Hermione breathed out, embarrassed.

Harry walked up to his best friend and put both hands on her shoulders, looking her directly in the eye. "Hey. War's over, yeah? Don't go on and have a nutty, I don't want to be Head of House." Hermione nodded, then rolled her eyes at his bad joke. "Should we find ourselves one of those lovely gold tables that someone didn't help set up?"

"I realize this isn't right, but I kind of like the copper…"

"Ginny! Bad Gryffindor." Hermione teased.

They sat at a large golden table in the back of the hall. Hermione checked to confirm that the ceiling was its requisite summer night sky, a mix of blues and blacks that she now realized reflected her dress beautifully.

Ron and George were still missing when McGonagall walked in and readied to give her speech. Suddenly, she stopped and smiled. She looked down at the ground, seemingly waiting. Then they all heard it, in their own heads. It was eerily like when Voldemort had spoken to them five years ago, but this was pleasant. It reminded Hermione of folk music or the taste of marshmallows. She knew the voice, and the words were familiar too:

" _Every guest in this Hall will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. We can fight only by showing a strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."_

The words ended and everyone raised their heads to find McGonagall once more. She was still smiling, and Hermione thought there might have been tears in her eyes. Or maybe that was just her own. The Headmistress waved her wand, making food appear and music begin. She walked to the doorway and greeted Ron and George, who had appeared there, warmly, shaking their hands. "Well done boys." Both men blushed.

* * *

"Oh Ron, have you seen Neville tonight?"

Hermione hoped she was being casual and was assured when Ron answered with half a mouthful of food. "No? Should I have?"

Hermione smiled. "Let's go see them. I'd like a dance with Neville, he really is the best of all you boys." She stood and gestured to Ron, who swallowed and stood up, very confused.

"Hermione, are you about to take advantage of me because don't get me wrong I am fine with that but could I finish my meal first?" Hermione hit him. "Ow!" Then she straightened his tie and double checked he didn't have food on his mouth.

"You just be nice." Ron chuckled in response.

Hermione rushed up once they were in view of Neville, Susan, and Hannah. Hermione looked at Susan and cheered internally. She really was beautiful, but not in the showy, confident way that Fleur or Ginny were, and she wasn't playing as though she didn't know how pretty she was, the way Lavender used to. Susan had long ash blonde hair, brushed out soft and thick. The pale, creamy yellow of her dress robes made the blonde glow. Hermione thought, probably prematurely, how nice her cornflower blue eyes would look next to Ron's dark blue pair. "Neville! Hey! Oh you all look lovely." The two Hufflepuffs and Neville rose to exchange hugs. "Susan! You look beautiful, I haven't seen you in so long!" The women exchanged a polite but earnest hug. "Neville told me you were doing something amazing in America?" Susan began to answer but Hermione had conspicuously moved on to the couple, leaving Susan and Ron staring at each other very awkwardly.

"Um yes, actually I was… oh" Susan realized Hermione was no longer there.

Ron gave her a small smile and gestured to her seat and the empty one next to it. "Um, I'd love to hear about it. Never been to America myself."

Hermione's grin at Neville and Hannah might have disturbed them. She didn't hear a word they said about how business at the pub was. She excused herself as quickly as she could, glancing over her shoulder at Ron and Susan, who were already flirting, if she did say so herself.

* * *

Walking back to her table, Hermione reminded herself that she should eat, but found herself only mildly hungry. Perhaps a roll or a small pudding. She looked to a random table to see if food was still available and found her eyes looking right into a pair of sparkling gray eyes that were staring at her. She gave a tiny gasp, then tried to hide the small grin that immediately tried to crawl onto her face. He nearly pulled off the casual way he was walking over, but she could sense the swagger underneath his pretense. When he reached her, he stood beside her, not touching her, not looking at her. "Granger."

Hermione continued to avoid looking at him. "Malfoy."

"Has anyone told you how unbelievable you look tonight?"

Hermione chided herself for the blush she couldn't fight. "As a matter of fact, Harry did."

Malfoy huffed and turned to look at her squarely, glancing slowly down her entire body and then back up into her brown eyes. "Potter may not be as much of a prat nowadays, but he can't possibly have any real idea what you look like right now." Then he leaned into her, and almost imperceptibly whispered, his breath warm on her ear, "He's not smart enough to imagine what's underneath."

Hermione threw her head back laughing, ending the game and glaring at her friend, hitting his arm teasingly. "Malfoy, you're terrible, you know that?" He laughed at her ineffectual violence. "You're going to give people the wrong idea!" Malfoy only grinned mischievously. She locked his arm in hers. "Did the prefects escort the younger kids out yet? I need firewhiskey and some kind of bread."

* * *

 **SIX YEARS LATER-2004**

"I really, really think I'm going to puke."

Hermione didn't blink or stop what she was doing. She levitated a bowl to Ginny without looking at her. "You always say that."

"Oh yes, I'm very aware Hermione. I want this thing OUT already." Ginny put her hands on her, frankly enormous, stomach.

"You have another month Ginny. Are you going to be in this bad a mood for a month, because I'll see you a few hours after you have the thing in that case."

There was a pause in the room, Hermione waiting to see how Ginny reacted to her frustration. It broke with laughter from both women. "I'm so glad you're not one of those 'beautiful, creation, life inside of you' nonsense people. Between mum, dad, and Harry I'm about to wring the neck of the next optimist that dares talk to me about what a wonderful mother I'll be."

"I mean you will-" Ginny cut her off. "Nope! No beautiful motherhood here!"

Hermione laughed. "Deal."

"What are you looking for, anyway?" Ginny glanced around the once tidy Hogwarts flat. Boxes and tubs that were usually tucked away were out, clothes and a surprising amount of junk spilling out. The desk drawers were all opened and it looked like papers that had been meticulously organized were now…very much unorganized.

Hermione stopped pulling things out of the dresser drawer she had her entire head in and threw her arms up in the air. "My God Damn Necklace!"

"What god damn necklace?"

Hermione whipped around to glare at her. "My! The one!" She emphatically gestured at her neck as though this would help specify. She pointed to a specific spot on her chest as though to signify length. "It's got a little triangle on it with a diamond thing in the middle. YOUR- "she pointed at Ginny as though this were all her fault-"stupid husband and brother got it for me."

"Okay…sounds lovely. Why do you need it today?" Ginny was trying very hard to get comfortable on Hermione's bed, which looked like it involved a lot of rolling over and trying to tuck her feet in directions they didn't want to go.

Hermione stood and threw her arms up in defeat. "I don't" she sighed. "I just. I wanted to wear it tonight. That's it. And now it's driving me crazy because I love it and I can't find it and you have to know how that is!"

Ginny nodded, thinking privately how much better Harry and Ron were at calming her when she got like this, all squeaky and frizzy and upset. There was a knock on the door and Ginny looked over at Hermione, then began to attempt to get herself off of the bed.

"Oh my goodness Ginny don't try to move your crazy body."

Ginny breathed out and relaxed again. "Oh thank Merlin."

Hermione answered the door to a pale and smirking face, to the left of which was her necklace, dangling. She grabbed it immediately, then hugged Malfoy excitedly. "Malfoy! Where? How? How did you know I couldn't find it!? Oh thank you!" Malfoy barely returned the hug, his body stiff and unsure how to react to affection. He could also see Ginny stretching her neck to see the commotion in the doorway.

"Granger." He picked her up and set her down away from his body, his considerable strength treating her like a large child. "You told me at breakfast that you wanted to wear it tonight and I remembered seeing it in my flat." Ginny raised an eyebrow neither of them saw. "The other night it was bothering you and you took it off." Hermione sighed contentedly. Malfoy reached his head around her. "Oh, hey Weasley, you look gigantic."

"Charming, Malfoy."

"Blimey Granger, what happened to your place?"

Hermione held up the necklace in answer. "Thanks Malfoy. Really. I owe you a dance. Now leave, so I can get ready for this damn thing." He growled a response as he left.

Hermione closed the door behind him and sighed heavily again, holding the necklace to her chest. She opened her eyes to see Ginny giving her a very suspicious look. "Don't. Just. I know what you're going to say and I know what you're going to ask and I know you're going to promise not to tell Harry and you will anyway so just don't. We're FRIENDS. Which is weird, but fine and kind of nice." Ginny pointed at her tightly closed mouth and then immediately grabbed the bowl and got sick. "Lovely."

* * *

By the end of the feast portion of the evening, Hermione had forgotten she was even wearing the necklace. Predictably, neither Harry nor Ron had noticed it. She certainly hadn't expected them to, but she was now confirming in her head how much it wasn't worth the trouble of losing an afternoon. Ron was completely lost in Susan. His smile when he was with her was consistently genuine and happy. It reminded her of the two of them when they were…oh it would have been 18 years old? 19? Goodness. She wasn't even sure he had ever looked that free with her. And all the better for it, because Susan looked happier with him than she ever had.

Ron had asked Hermione a few days ago to help him shop for a ring. He had seemed excessively nervous to ask for her help and she had comforted and encouraged him. "You did put us together Hermione, I trust you more than anyone." He had said. Harry was in full teacher mode tonight, his eyes glued to the newest trouble-makers of Gryffindor and Slytherin house. For this she was eternally grateful because she did not have the energy. Ginny had left early, claiming the usual symptoms and no one had fought her on it. Hermione was enjoying the usual sounds of the Ball and watching George, Bill, and Charlie plot something surely wonderful and terrible. She hoped it wasn't for tonight.

"I'm here to collect." The aristocratic voice directly behind her ear was unmistakable. She looked up to see every Weasley face guarded and ready for a fight, Harry looking completely normal, and Susan looking mildly terrified.

Hermione gave a small laugh and big smile and put out her hand for him to grab and help her out of her chair. He did so and gracefully turned her around to face him. Playing damsel, she announced, "I thought you'd never come!"

He smirked as the table varied in its shocked and offended faces. "I'll be stealing her then. Thanks for not putting up a fight." Hermione lightly smacked his arm for goading them. "Kidding. She owes me." He winked lasciviously at Ron, making Harry burst with laughter.

His upbringing really was noticeable in moments like these. Malfoy guided her to the dancefloor like he was helping her walk on air. Hermione paused. "I'm not actually much of a dancer, Malfoy."

His eyes questioned her. "Yes, you are, I've seen you dance before. You were good at the Yule Ball with what's-his-face." Hermione's brain wanted to stop and wonder why he would have noticed that but she forced it to move on. "No matter. Just don't look down, keep your eyes on me I'll do the work." She smirked a little and he rolled his eyes.

Malfoy placed one hand flat on Hermione's lower back, his fingers just grazing the top of her bum. His other hand held hers, not tightly but warmly. She responded in kind, her left hand feeling the strength of his upper back. "Look up Granger." She hadn't realized she had been looking down at her shoes. She did as she was told and relaxed, laughing at his arrogant, serious expression. "What could you possibly be laughing at?"

"You."

"Rude."

"You take everything so seriously Malfoy. Really, it's a dance. Everyone else on the floor is drunk or sixteen and you act like we're in Cinderella."

"Cinder-?"

"Nevermind. Muggle thing. Relax Malfoy." She moved her hands to his neck, leaving one of his hands stranded in the air. She watched his face betray his momentary insecurity as he slowly placed it above the one on her lower back. He could now control her body just by pressing on her back in certain ways. She allowed him to do just that, relaxing her feet and letting herself look up at him. He seemed to have grown less confident.

"So. Why?" She tilted her head at his question. "Why did you so desperately need that necklace tonight?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

She smiled at his insistence. "I suppose…" she sighed. "This is going to sound silly. Harry is having a baby, Ron is about to get engaged- don't tell anyone he hasn't asked yet- and I just…I'm so really truly happy for them because they're getting exactly what they want. And I have too, with my projects and my work and my trips, but I realize we're not just the three of us anymore, and I suppose I wanted to say goodbye to that somehow." She looked up at his face, which betrayed no expression. "I guess that sounds rather stupid to you." She looked down at her feet in embarrassment.

He moved a hand to tilt her chin up back at him. "I said, look up Granger." She rolled her eyes with exasperation, but he didn't move his hand and he looked deeply at her. "You three have been the most ridiculous nuisances of my life and probably this school's history. You fought a war together. You could all decide never to see each other again after today and you'd still have all that. So, hush, Granger. Just dance." And they did, Hermione paying her debt three times over.

At some point, they heard a loud explosion which sounded as though it had come from the hall and was followed by expletives from voices she knew. Malfoy immediately stiffened and made to move towards it but she stopped him. "Weasleys" she said, and he relaxed. Hermione smiled and pulled him closer, resting her head on his strong, warm chest.

* * *

 **Yes, those are Dumbledore's words from the fourth year celebration, slightly edited. The reviews and favorites have been making my heart happy, thanks for them!**


	4. Chapter 4

**SEVEN YEARS LATER-2005**

"I'm very sorry to do this to you Miss Granger, but I do think we would hear some upset if none of the three of you were to attend, and it is far easier to forgive a new parent or a man on his honeymoon their lack of attendance.

"I realize I cannot, in any official capacity, ask you to attend as one of the Golden Trio, though I do think it is important that you are represented. However, I can insist that you attend as an employee."

Hermione sighed quietly, resigned. "Of course, Headmistress. I will see you there."

As Hermione walked out of the large office that held many Quidditch trophies and alarmingly large bookcases that made even the tall and formidable Professor McGonagall look small, she heard a cough behind her that made her turn around. "Miss Granger. I understand the position your friends have put you in tonight. You are, as always, welcome to sit at the staff table and adjourn early." McGonagall's forgiving smile reflected Hermione's grin of gratitude.

"Thank you."

* * *

Hermione immediately regretted sitting at the staff table. She realized this evening that she had a few co-workers whom were her dear friends, and that the rest of them could be quite…awful. She sipped her pumpkin juice and ate some kind of delicious roasted lamb while trying not to listen to a conversation between a few professor's spouses.

"He's a bit arrogant though, isn't he? I mean, I heard he was."

"We were in the same year, though we were in Ravenclaw of course." The speaking woman paused to drink more firewhiskey that she didn't seem to need and she leaned in as if to whisper, though her voice failed to drop in volume. "I always thought he was full of himself. Then again, I don't know a single Gryffindor who isn't!"

Her comments were met with unanimous laughter, and the man next to her added "Even Longbottom, right? Couldn't keep his wand pointed the right direction for years but one battle and he's a hero?" He rolled his eyes dramatically. Hermione looked out in the hall to find Neville. He was dancing closely with Hannah, and Hermione thought she could feel the warmth and friendliness they emnated from here. She glanced over at the speakers next to her, identifying the man as the new Arithmancy Apprentice and his wife as Marietta Edgecombe.

"Well sure," another male voice had interrupted the laughter. "But I'll take a Gryffindor over a Slytherin any day. I don't understand why they're still allowed at Hogwarts. The whole lot are either Death Eaters, Death Eaters' kids, or whatever comes next if you ask me. Mean little snakes too, even the young ones." Hermione tightened her lips to keep from speaking, reminding herself that not too long ago she would have agreed with the man who she didn't recognize but might have been married to Trelawney's successor, Professor Yearwood. "That Malfoy." The man shook his head disapprovingly. "McGonagall ought to have run that hire by the entire Board of Governor's. He wouldn't have made it through the door."

This time Yearwood herself spoke up in her strict, decisive tone that made Hermione almost miss Professor Trelawney's dreamy nonsensical voice. "He's still got the mark you know. Or that's what I heard."

Marietta shook her head in disgust. "He's still just as terrible as he was in school." She leaned in to whisper and Hermione had to strain to hear. "And a bit of a slut I heard!"

Hermione stood up and cleared her throat loudly. "Well, goodnight then." She then leaned over to the group of gossips next to her and did her best impression of Lavender Brown, "You know, I think Professor Malfoy brewed something for the…hangovers…you're _sure_ to have tomorrow. I imagine if you're nice enough to him he would share." They gaped at her and she stalked off and out of the Hall, stopping to say quiet goodbyes to Neville and Hannah, as well as George and his date.

* * *

If she had been looking where she was going instead of keeping her eyes on the ground in anger, Hermione wouldn't have run directly into Professor McGonagall. "Oh!"

"Oh, Hermione, you really should look where you're going."

"I'm so sorry Professor!" Hermione paused as she realized that her usually overly proper Headmistress had used her first name. With a studious look, she could see that McGonagall was a bit red in the face and was smiling almost giddily. "Professor…forgive me but…are you…drunk?"

McGonagall pursed her lips comically and held a finger up to them. She tilted her head towards the front steps and the clear summer night. Hermione followed, curious and desperately wishing Harry and Ron were here so they could laugh about this later. She was surprised to see McGonagall round a corner to another set of steps that Hermione had never used, that couldn't be seen easily from the Hall doors, and sit unceremoniously on the cold stone. Hermione sat next to her once she realized that's what McGonagall was waiting for.

"Hermione, my dear. What's bothing…boring…bothering you?"

Hermione smiled, unsure what to do and aching not to giggle. "Um…Professor? Sorry but, I've never seen you like this, is everything alright?"

The Headmistress leaned over to look at her and nodded solemnly before laughing and turning back to look our at the grounds. "Oh yes. Everything is quite alright. I'm only celebrating, as should we all be!" She raised the flask Hermione hadn't seen before towards the moon. Hermione gave her a questioning look and McGonagall pulled herself together, sitting up and setting the flask down on the step between them. "My dear. You were so very young when the Second War began, and perhaps you don't realize. I was a professor, quite a bit older than you are now, even before the First War. Sometimes, we must remind ourselves how very lucky we are to be here and to be living full lives in what is mostly peaceful unity. Simple as that, but no less worth some excitement and a little mead."

Hermione breathed out relief that her mentor hadn't told her something dramatic or revealed a sudden onset insanity. But her thoughts brought her back to the discussion she had heard back in the Hall. "Professor…I don't know. Are you sure? About the unity, I mean. Sometimes I feel like we've gotten nowhere. Gryffindors still hate Slytherins and all that."

McGonagall shook her head slowly, then looked at Hermione curiously. "Isn't it you who is close friends with Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione smiled out of one corner of her mouth, admitting that point. "If anyone had told me ten years ago that you and Potter would be friendly with him, I would have been concerned they had been struck with a very strange curse."

"He's grown up a lot. We all have. But I see the house struggles between our students and…it worries me."

McGonagall took a short sip from the flask, apparently finishing it off. "House rivalries are a necessary part of our system, Hermione. Houses provide communities and identity to young students who have been removed from their own families. When one is in a community they love dearly, they become quite proud of it and begin defending it and sometimes becoming insulated within it. It is inevitable, as is the process of learning that a persons' identity and family can and should exist outside of that house. I know that you were quite enveloped in one house culture, being so close to the Weasley family, but you must understand that their single-house family is a rarity now, and far rarer than it used to be. I think if you took a moment, you would realize that plenty of the happiest young families you know have resulted from inter-house matches."

Hermione thought about Neville and Hannah; Dean Thomas and Penelope Clearwater; Luna and Rolf; even Padma Patil and Theodore Nott who had fallen in love in a recovery group after the War. She laughed to herself as she remembered learning about the courtship of Pansy Parkinson and Seamus Finnegan, who had discovered their fiery chemistry after working together as Curse-Breakers. Now there was Ron and Susan. "I suppose you're right Professor. I never really thought of that as a new phenomenon…" She stopped talking, realizing that the always dignified Headmistress had let her head drop to her chest and was beginning to snore. Hermione smiled and admired her mentor for a minute before waking her and finding Sir Nick to be sure she got back to her quarters safely.

* * *

Hermione had one more thing to take care of before she could get out of the old black dress robes that had become tighter as she had become more curvaceous over the years. She headed back into the Hall tentatively, unsure what to expect. Apparently, she and McGonagall had been outside for quite a while, because the Hall had mostly cleared out. There were only two couples on the floor, each set completely lost in each other. The staff table was empty, and only three tables, scattered across the hall, had people still sitting at them. One held a dejected looking young man who seemed to be waiting on the couples; another had three sleeping children and four adults who all seemed too drunk to floo home; the last was a loud group of sixth and seventh years she recognized as the more precocious, and correspondingly difficult, of their years.

She paused a moment and observed the table. McGonagall had certainly been proven right. There was the Ravenclaw girl who had never received a bad mark in Transfiguration, holding hands with a quiet Slytherin boy Hermione thought might be the Slytherin Seeker. The pair of seventh year Gryffindor girls sitting with them were giggling in a way that reminded her of Lavender and Parvati, but she knew they had both already accepted very hard to get jobs at the Ministry dependent upon their N.E.W.T. scores. The real troublemakers of the group were the Hufflepuff boys who had just last week made the first floor into a tundra, complete with freezing over the grand staircase and giving sleds to first-years, resulting in multiple injuries, detentions for them, and an admittedly rather enjoyable snow day in April. Hermione remembered now that they had been banned from the party tonight, and just as she began to walk over to send them to their dorms in her best Strict Teacher Voice, she saw that Malfoy had beaten her to it. She walked slowly to his side.

"Professor Malfoy" He turned his head to see her and the sparkle in his eye betrayed that he was enjoying scolding the teenagers. "If either Ms. Haddad or Ms. O'Connell give you any trouble, you should not hesitate to take points away from my house."

"Professor Granger! We were just leaving!" The girls chorused.

"Yes, I'm sure you were. Perhaps students as bright as yourselves can convince your peers to follow you, especially considering some of them shouldn't even be here" Malfoy said the last few words out of his teeth, reminding Hermione so much of Professor Snape that she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. The students scattered and the two professors glared at them scathingly until they were completely out of sight, when Hermione let out her laughter.

She turned to face her friend, catching her breath.

"Where you been, Granger? You miss all the fun?" His sarcasm wasn't lost on her, but she laughed anyway, leaning against the table and facing the dancing couples.

"Our Headmistress got herself drunk, somebody had to take care of her." She smiled smugly.

"You're kidding." Malfoy joined her, putting most of his weight on the table and brushing her shoulder with his arm. "I wish I had seen that."

Hermione turned her head to him. "It was really very sweet. All 'life is short' and 'house unity' and all that." He nodded as if that would be McGonagall's only possible reaction to alcohol. "I suppose I needed that tonight." He looked at her questioningly. She didn't want to talk about the conversation she had overheard tonight, but she had intended to say something to him before they had run into the students. She pushed herself off the table and stood in front of him, putting him between her and the table. They had spent so many nights grading papers or reading books on couches and spread out on carpeted floors; she was so comfortable with him that it was hard to remember when that hadn't been the case. She put her hands on his shoulders but it felt like she was trying to wrestle him or something so she put her small hands on his pale, warm cheeks instead. His eyes widened in surprise and he pretended to be afraid.

"Granger what are you-"

"Sh. Listen to me. You are a good man. You are a good teacher and a good man and a good Slytherin and I mean all of that. Okay?"

It was very funny to see him try to talk with her hands still on his cheeks but she didn't want to laugh at him so she moved them, putting her hands on his chest so he could speak. "Okay…Granger?"

"Yes Malfoy?"

"Have you been addled in some way? I mean, should I be concerned here?" He smirked.

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "In so far as I've become your friend Malfoy, you should definitely be concerned for my sanity."

She was surprised at the tingle that went up her spine as he grabbed her waist, pulling her so close that her hands, still on his chest, were squished between their bodies. His mouth was now level with her forehead, so he kissed it. She looked up at him, surprised, and found them to be very close together. She could have sworn his eyes were staring at her lips and she brought the lower one in between her teeth self-consciously. After too long of a moment that wasn't a hug and wasn't…something else, he released her and they walked towards the professor's quarters together. "Believe me Granger, I'm quite concerned about this friendship."

* * *

 **EIGHT YEARS LATER-2006**

"Oh my goodness, aren't you just the most beautiful boy?!" Hermione raised Albus above her head and then back down to her lap, making all of the ridiculous faces that people make at babies.

Ginny checked that Harry was still with James looking at the suits of armor before she sighed a breath of relief and admitted "He is so much easier than James. I honestly don't know what I would do if he wasn't." Hermione set the baby down on her lap but facing his mother and bounced her knee up and down to keep him occupied. "When do you leave?" Ginny asked.

Hermione looked up at her friend, her baby-holding smile still in place. "Next week, just after the end of year feast actually. I'm catching the Express back to London since I'll take a plane from there."

"You can't floo to Pakistan?"

Hermione smiled. "Floo powder is only done through our Ministry. It's more trouble than it's worth to arrange an embassy fireplace over there. Once I've been I can Apparate back, so it's a one-way ticket. I have to say I'm glad it's only for the summer though. The idea is that once I've established myself at their schools we can set up a sort of exchange program. Just a lot of networking, so it shouldn't take too long." She looked at Albus again, flipping him around to face her and setting his feet on her thighs. "I just don't know how long I can be away from this gorgeous face!"

Ginny smiled. "I won't lie, Hermione, I'm a bit jealous. All these adventures you go on, all your projects."

Hermione peeked at her from around Albus' little body. "Don't be silly. You do amazing work, even retired from the team. And-" She wiggled the baby in front of her. "I would call this one heck of an adventure. Besides, he's definitely going to be a project, look at those plotting eyes." Ginny smiled her new mother smile and Hermione pointed at the infant's eyes, then covered his ears and leaned in to whisper to her. "Those are Slytherin eyes Gin, I'm telling you." Ginny laughed so hard Albus started to cry. She reached over to take him, still laughing. "Trust me. I've gotten very good at this and almost always win Harry's money on Sorting day."

Hermione watched her friend balance cheering up Albus and eating her own dinner and admired her. Then she stood up. "On that note, I promised Ron I'd give him a dance." She brushed off invisible baby dust from her new sparkling silver dress robes. "You're okay here without me?"

Ginny smiled up at her in response, Albus standing on her lap with his hand in her hair. "Of course. All I ask is that if you see Hagrid trying to show James any creatures you rescue him immediately."

* * *

Hermione didn't have to go far before running into Ron at a table with Neville and Hannah, Susan, Luna and Rolf, Penelope and Dean, and Cho Chang. "There's the man I was looking for!" Ron raised his eyebrows and looked behind him, pointing at his chest and mouthing "Who, me?" Hermione played along, pointing at him and curving her finger back as if to pull him towards her as she approached the table. They made all necessary the small talk, including Luna's requisite strangeness and Neville's dropping of silverware, followed by hitting his head on the table trying to retrieve it.

Susan got up to hug Hermione. Maybe they weren't best friends, but they were friendly enough and Susan was grateful enough for her support of Ron that there was no animosity between them. "Please take him"- she said loudly enough for Ron to hear- "if he steps on my feet one more time I swear I'm never coming to this thing again."

"Don't you dare" Hermione said. "Then I'll have to dance with him more than once a year and I'll lose my toes." Ron stepped in, still chewing on a biscuit. "What's this then? Who lost their toes?" The women laughed hard and Ron played confused until Hermione led him to the dance floor.

Hermione loved dancing with Ron. He wasn't graceful or smooth by any means, but they knew how to dance with each other. It was like holding hands with a parent, you knew exactly what it would feel like and even when it was uncomfortable you felt comfortable and safe. "You look amazing H."

Hermione breathed a chuckle. "Thank you, Ronald. My goodness, did Susan manage to teach you manners?"

Ron laughed. "No, I don't mean it like that. I mean, you look great, but you look really, really happy, Hermione." He sounded almost sad, and Hermione couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

She raised an eyebrow at him "Should I not be? Is there something on my face?"

Ron rolled his eyes back "You see! Where is my Hermione? You're suddenly…goofy! And all confident and-" Hermione just smiled and focused on dancing.

"I am happy Ron. I really am. And you and Susan are too?" Ron grinned like a fool. "That's what I thought." Ron spun Hermione and she caught the eyes she hadn't realized she was looking for, staring at her from where he stood near a silver-clothed table. Her grin increased and the pair of old friends danced until the song was over. "Thanks Ron." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Go tell Susan that my feet survived."

"Huh?"

* * *

Hermione could feel the power in her step as she walked over to Malfoy. She knew she looked good tonight, not just because Ron had told her, and she wanted him to notice. He did. His eyes followed her as she walked towards him, drinking in every inch of her. When she reached him she kissed his cheek, just barely missing the corner of his mouth on purpose and lingering too long. "Malfoy."

For a second, and he knew it, Malfoy had looked as hapless as Ron used to. He wasn't touching her at all, his body stiff, and as he pulled his head away from her lips, she watched his eyes figure out how to regain the power in this situation. He decided on pretending to find something on her shoulder to brush off, his nails grazing all the way down her arm, giving her goosebumps. "Granger."

They looked at each other for a moment, both smirking, daring the other one to break the tension. This was their usual game, just a flirtation. Push the line and see who backs off. Someone always did. It was a great game, in her opinion. Plenty of fun and no one got hurt. Hermione was just as happy to lose as she was to win. She broke into a smile and giggled. His eyes relaxed as he watched her. She held out her hand to him. "Dance with me."

He ignored her hand and pulled her waist into him instead of leading her to the floor. He positioned them so that it looked like he was whispering something casual to her, perhaps about a student making trouble or gossip about an old classmate. "Come home with me."

Hermione felt the color drain from her face. She looked up and tried to play it cool, but she didn't feel confident anymore. Without losing her smile, knowing anybody including his friends, her friends, and any of their students and coworkers could be looking, she whispered back, looking at him seriously. "That's not the game, Malfoy."

He smirked again. _Oh, he had definitely won this round. He was playing with her, oh god what had she thought was going to happen?! Settle yourself Hermione._ She felt her whole body blush from the thought of what she had imagined he had intended. His expression was completely serious. "What game, Granger?"

She froze. Or she melted. She wasn't sure what happened. Was her mouth open? Why couldn't she feel her legs? Why wasn't anyone rescuing her? What the hell was she supposed to do next? He leaned in again and she almost flinched, but he grabbed her hand and led her casually out of the Hall. It had all looked like they had important professor business to take care of. No one saw her turning inside out.

* * *

They were halfway to the professor's quarters when Hermione yanked her hand from his and pulled away, pushing herself against the cold castle wall to calm herself down and make standing more possible. Malfoy looked down, surprised at the loss of her hand. "Okay Malfoy, you win. You got me all flustered, can we stop now?"

Malfoy looked at her and tilted his head. His condescending tone could have been the same one he had used when they were eleven, only now it was deeper and maybe a bit gentler. "What game do you think this is Hermione?"

"What?" Taken aback by her name, she couldn't make her brain work. "I mean…" She took a slow, deep breath, catching up to her thoughts, and stood up straighter. "I know we flirt, and all that, and I have a very fun time with it, but we're friends, and that's it, right?" She was sure the tone of her question was one looking for confirmation but he clearly thought differently.

Walking slowly closer to her, Malfoy was shaking his head. "Wrong. Hermione. Unless…" He was an arm's length away from her now. She had plenty of space if she wanted to run, but she apparently didn't want to do that. "Do you do this-" He leaned forward and she froze, suddenly afraid he was going to just go on and kiss her in the middle of the hallway. It was worse. Taking a small step forward, he leaned in, pulled her hair away from her neck and kissed her neck directly below her left ear. Her body reacted in a way she hadn't felt in quite awhile. "–with your friends?"

"No." She tried to recover. "Which is why I haven't..."

He interrupted her. "I'm glad." She breathed out in annoyance at being cut off. "How about this?" He leaned down to her on the other side and she froze again, but he found the space between her neck and her clavicle and kissed the small, soft triangle there. She hated herself for letting the whimper escape her lips. She barely gasped out her "No."

He looked at her seriously then, closing the space between them as he pulled her into him with one hand on the small of her back. "I hate to break it to you Granger-" her heart broke a little at the name change; he placed his other hand gently around her cheek "-but I think we may be more than friends." He kissed her, tentatively at first, then harder, then deeper. At some point her arms moved to the back of his neck, then traveled down his chest and up his back, feeling the tense muscles and nervous warmth. His hands explored her waist and stomach and back, and at some point he reached the back of her neck and wove his hand into her thick hair, grabbing a handful in order to get her closer to him. They didn't pull apart until they heard loud, laughing students about to turn down the hallway, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him all the way to her rooms.

* * *

I'm sad to say there's one more chapter after this. Thanks so much for the lovely reviews! If you want to make a lady happy it really is the best way.


	5. Chapter 5

**NINE YEARS LATER-2007**

"You know, honestly, I don't even find it that weird." Ginny shrugged, trying to swat away Albus who was pulling at her skirt underneath the table.

"What?!" Ron's face was almost as red as his face. Susan's hand was on his arm comfortingly as she tried to hide her own laughter. "It's…insane!"

"What's insane?" said a small voice at the table. Harry re-directed James to his plate.

"The weirdest part to me is how normal Harry finds it! He was in full support before it even happened." Ginny clarified her point.

A spoon was thrown to the ground. "No! What is ane!?" shouted the two-year-old. Harry picked it up and pet his son's head, ignoring his outburst. "Look, if you saw how they flirted every day you'd be rooting for them to get it over with too."

"Ewwwww…" Ron and George whined in unison. "Did they feed each other at meals?" George teased, his neatly trimmed beard making him look far more serious than he had any right to look.

"Harry said there were even students encouraging them to get together." Ginny added.

"Weird… We never would have done that when we were in school, would we?" Susan asked the group.

"I mean, we never had hot professors." George happily said, the only one at the table who could confidently do so without the threat of jealousy.

"False." Ginny, Hannah, and Susan surprised each other and the rest of the table with their chorus. They giggled. "Lockhart?" "Lupin…" "Ew, no!" "Ooh, yes I suppose." Then, simultaneously: "Firenze…" The men glared at them as though they had stood on their heads.

"Ewwwww" came a little voice from under the table. Neville picked up the one year old in tiny dress robes and set him on his lap, nodding at him in agreement with his statement.

"Where are they anyway?" With his head, Harry gestured towards the two empty seats at their table. Everyone paused and looked around the room.

"Ewwwww" repeated Albus.

Neville looked down at him and laughed. "Ew indeed."

Hermione walked back into the Hall moments later, bee-lining it to the table full of her friends, who could see that she was mid-rant. "…idiot, immature, Slytherin, can't be trusted to do…"

Ron broke the silence at the table, grimacing. "That didn't last long." Ron's comment was met with a solid smack from both Ginny and Susan. "Ow! Not fair." He slumped in his seat, pretending to pout.

"Not Draco!" Hermione protested.

"Ewww… _Draco_ " whispered Ginny, George, Neville, and Ron.

Hermione rolled her eyes and adjusted herself in her seat. "Not that. It's the Head Girl…oh don't worry about it."

"Wow. They actually were working." Ron said to no one in particular.

* * *

Dinner had disappeared and Hermione stood off to the side, scanning the room. The ceiling was that clear, perfect summer night sky, floating candles giving the hall romantic, festive lighting. The tables were scattered and mixed, with the usual shining black, copper, silver, and golden tablecloths. Hermione had seen over the years that people had mostly mixed themselves around them, increasingly ignoring their own house identities in lieu of sitting with friends and family.

The hall had the pleasant buzz of laughter and celebration. Adults and students alike were draped in dress robes that reflected their houses or cultures or jobs. She checked her watch; the Prefects should be taking the younger students back to their dorms any minute. Then the butterbeer and firewhiskey would be brought out. The sixth and seventh years would be more trouble than they were worth in only a few hours.

She spotted Draco across the hall, doing the same job. He had a far better eye for the subtle kind of bullying he had been guilty of himself; she knew exactly what a plotting Weasley-type (and sometimes even a grown Weasley, re-living his glory days) looked like. They were a good team.

He thought it was great that she was leaving for another trip, for most of the summer again and to Sudan this time. She could only imagine the fights and crying that would have resulted if Ron was the one she left at home when she would travel for months at a time. She loved that half the time they were together they were working, grading in silence spread out at tables or on floors, grazing each other's waists and shoulders whenever possible and taking long breaks, sneaking down to the kitchens or staying in bed. They were equally devoted to their work. He wanted to be Headmaster someday. She was determined to figure out the right way to transition the house elves to positions as fairly paid workers. The foreign exchange program had been their idea together. Her parents had no idea he had a difficult history; his parents were too defeated to be violent, and after learning that they had no desire to procreate they had even become tolerant. Her friends mostly found the whole thing funny once they came around, and Harry had been a fantastic ally; his friends, all of them disowned or estranged from their Death Eater parents, had accepted her. Her scar mirrored his, and in bed they kissed each other's forearms and she told him he was good and he told her she was made of magic.

* * *

Hermione realized she was watching Draco more than the students and shook her head, bringing herself back to focus and finding Ginny walking up to her, James walking in his much smaller steps at her side. "Hermione, James had something he wanted to-"

"Ditch!" James yelled. Hermione looked at Ginny, begging for clarification.

"The boys want to go outside, fly around a bit. They're restless."

"James and Albus?"

"Harry and Ron, really. Suppose this is what happens when you don't get out very much."

Hermione laughed. "Let me pass off my duties and I'll come out."

Ginny smiled and lifted James with some difficulty. "Hopefully this will tire all of them out early."

Twenty minutes later, Hermione, Hannah, and Susan were sitting in the wet grass under the Quidditch pitch, watching a makeshift game of Quidditch that was lacking in rules. James was very much in charge and had excitedly claimed Ron and George for his team, rejecting his parents dramatically and leaving Ginny, Harry and Draco as their own team, with Neville playing a mostly impartial referee and dual Seeker, which no one pretended made any sense, but James had insisted. Harry and Ginny had enforced that they were not to fly high enough to reach the real hoops and so they had conjured their own. There were no beaters or bludgers and no snitch was released, so to Hermione it looked rather like a game of football.

Albus was walking and falling in equal measure underneath all of them and then occasionally back to the women lounging on the ground, where he would choose without prejudice a lap to crawl into. The grass and fresh night air and hints of butterbeer and firewhiskey on most of the adult's breath (Ginny and Susan had both been abstaining, she noticed) all combined beautifully.

Everyone was still in their (mostly ruined now) dress robes. When Ginny had climbed onto the broom, hiking up her gorgeous skirts without any caution, Harry had looked at her like they were fifteen and sixteen again. Draco had carefully folded his probably very expensive outer robe, and Hermione let herself notice the muscles visible underneath the fitted white shirt. When Ron saved a goal, his bowtie loose hanging around his neck, Susan sighed dreamily. Neville's robes now had stains from the grass, as he kept falling, never discouraged. Hannah was keeping score quietly, well aware that Neville was paying more attention to staying on his broom.

She wasn't sure how you made a memory powerful enough to use later in a conjuring but she thought she should look it up because she wanted this one. "Oh!" She exclaimed suddenly, the Hufflepuff girls looking at her with worry on their faces. "Oh it's fine, it's nothing. _Accio Camera!"_ A wizarding camera Harry had given her once came flying out of an open window in the castle. "Do either one of you know how to use this?" She held it out. "Does it even work in the dark?"

Hannah stood up and accepted it with a grin. "This one's decent, it ought to. Do you want anything in particular?"

Hermione smiled and lay down in the grass, not caring at all that her green silk robes would be stained. "Everything."

* * *

 **TEN YEARS LATER-2008**

When Professor McGonagall strode into the Great Hall and the crowd hushed, Hermione was reminded of how Dumbledore was able to quiet the whole room with a his powerful but playful presence. Comparatively, McGonagall was always serious and more commanding. But the play on her lips was noticeable to anyone who knew her well. "Wizards and witches," she began, with a clap of her hands as she walked into the middle of the room, "Welcome to the Anniversary Ball. This is an important event in which we remember the lives given to protect our world at the Battle of Hogwarts, ten years ago this week. In order to properly celebrate we annually invite alumni and veterans to join our students. Welcome all. Now, we will take a moment of silence. Those of you too young to remember, please take this moment to think of your own comfort and safety here at Hogwarts, and remind yourself that lives were given not so long ago in order to grant you that safety."

Hermione kept her lips tight, and actively did not remember the war in that moment. She did that enough, she told herself. Instead she observed the room. The entire hall was quiet as many people bowed their heads or closed their eyes. Others looked straight forward, looking at nothing or perhaps seeing the history that this room had witnessed.

McGonagall quietly clapped her hands once. "Thank you all." She seemed to betray a hint of sadness, or maybe gratitude, in her voice. "And now, we will do as everyone who fought in that war would wish, we will celebrate." Hermione grinned. Dumbledore would have made his announcement with panache and perhaps a trick or exciting spell. McGonagall stopped her sentence short and simply waved her wand, filling the large round tables that filled most of the room with the enormous feast. Then she walked off towards her own chair and nodded to the band leader to begin playing. After ten years Hermione thought she might like the Headmistress's style a little better after all.

* * *

It didn't take long at all for Hermione to be shaken from the pleasant trance she was in standing in the corner observing the crowd. She jumped at the hand on her shoulder.

"Harry! You surprised me!"

Harry laughed his deep, carefree laugh that was still new to her. "Who did you think it was Hermione?"

Hermione giggled. "Well you wouldn't be my first choice."

"He's not back yet? I wouldn't think he'd miss this... isn't it kind of your anniversary too?"

Hermione nodded and gave a sad frown. "They finished cleaning out the manor yesterday, he's taking Narcissa to her new flat. She didn't want to live in the big old thing by herself. He should be back by tomorrow." She breathed in deeply. Lucius' death had been hard on Draco. "Anyway, where's Gin?"

Harry grinned deeply, pointing to the back corner and one of the golden table clothed-tables. "It took all of five minutes for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team to find her. I swear it's a record."

Hermione looked over to see a laughing and very pregnant Ginny talking to six or seven students. She shook her head. "Must be nice not to be the most famous one in the room anymore."

Still staring at his wife, Harry nodded. Then he looked back at Hermione. "Oh yes, they're quite bored of me. Though the danger is she'll tell the embarrassing stories. Especially that rogue bludger one, for some reason she loves it."

Hermione laughed at her friend. "Where's Ron? I don't see him."

Harry shifted his body to face her. "Oh, there's too many of them now, so someone had to stay home with the kids and he volunteered." Harry answered with a shrug. "Besides, Amelia is still so little and he doesn't get to see Susan very much now she's opening a school in Diagon Alley as well."

Hermione shook her head and smiled broadly at Harry. "This thing always makes me reflective. Ten years. If anybody had told me ten years ago that Ron would be married to a Hufflepuff and the happiest stay-at-home Dad anyone has ever known, I would've taken them right to 's."

Harry laughed. "I think at this point I owe him more for taking care of James and Albus than I do for any horcrux-related activities. But you can't pretend as though you aren't the surprising one here."

"Hmm… maybe." She grinned bashfully. "I suppose us becoming Professors was inevitable though, wasn't it?"

"You more than me!"

"False!" Hermione exclaimed teasingly. "If you could have seen yourself teaching in the DA fifth year you would have known right away."

Harry shook his head. "I do wish McGonagall hadn't scheduled this right in the middle of exam-grading."

Hermione playfully hit his arm. "Harry! She didn't schedule the Battle of Hogwarts! I believe we can only really blame you for that."

They both paused, and Hermione was reasonably sure that he was thinking exactly what she was; that ten years of acknowledging the worst day of their lives had made it so much easier to think about, to talk about, to live in the presence of. Harry breathed a sigh for the both of them and put his hand on her shoulder again. "You look great, H. I'm going to get back to Ginny."

Hermione hugged her best friend. "Give her my love and don't let her leave without saying hello."

* * *

Hermione was woken up by the bedroom door opening. She grabbed the wand underneath her pillow, a leftover impulse that she didn't think any of them had been able to shake. "Draco?" He grunted and she could hear the weariness in his voice. She pulled back the blankets, welcoming him into bed. "Did you just get back?"

"Put on pants, Granger."

"What?" Hermione thought she must have heard him wrong. If anything, he usually told her to take pants _off._

"Come on, get dressed." He switched on the softest lamp in the room. She saw he was fully dressed, but casually. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and threw on a pair of her jeans along with his slightly too big white tee-shirt she slept in. He had adopted muggle jeans after she had introduced them to him and was wearing them and a soft looking sweater. Standing above her, he looked down and kissed her briefly. "Beautiful."

Hermione often thought about how sweet Malfoy was, and how it didn't always look that way if you didn't know him well. He still acted like a grumpy, spoiled jerk half the time, and as a professor he was surely terrifying. Ron had been the slowest to understanding why she was with him, until after a Weasley family dinner they were all sitting around and Hermione yawned. Without her asking and without saying a word himself he had risen and a few moments later came back and unceremoniously handed her a cup of tea. "I never would have just thought to do that for you." Ron had told her later.

Draco grabbed Hermione's hand. "Follow me." Not knowing what else to do, Hermione sleepily complied. Before she knew it they were standing at the entrance to the Great Hall. She could see that the food and mess were gone, but the decorations, dance floor, and tables remained. Draco waved his wand, re-lighting the floating candles but none of the other lanterns. Finally, Draco waved a spell at the piano still set up in the space the staff table usually took up, and it began to play something quiet and slow. "I missed our Anniversary."

Hermione laughed for a full minute, leaving Malfoy looking baffled. "Always so serious. Come on then, it's never too late." She smiled and pulled the neck of his sweater down, pulling him in and putting her hands softly in his hair. He responded by putting one of his strong arms around her waist and letting his other hand brush into her nest of hair. They kissed deeply, warmly, with all of the love and forgiveness that recovering from a war taught you.

Releasing him, Hermione found his hand and pulled him onto the floor where they danced, barefoot, under a summer sky.

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Well, that's that! I have really loved every visitor and especially every review. I hope you all enjoyed it because it was a damn pleasure to write. Thanks for reading!


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